Investment Digital Support Bench

Description

Summary of the work The Buyer's Digital, Data and Technology team requires support in delivering against DIT’s investment promotion priorities. The supplier should provide teams to deliver outcomes such as discoveries, alphas and betas. In some circumstances, the outcome may be to deliver an outcome and/or to support live services. Expected Contract Length 24 months Latest start date Tuesday 28 February 2023 Budget Range A maximum budget of £5,000,000.00 for a 24-month duration, exclusive of VAT. Why the Work is Being Done The Buyer (DIT) is a global organisation with representatives in over 100 countries across the world. It operates across about 50 industrial sectors across every region in the UK. The Digital, Data and Technology directorate works to build new services, and iterate those already in existence, to promote international trade. These services provide advice, support and end-to-end services for businesses in the UK and overseas looking to trade or invest. DIT also provides a range of services to allow staff to support businesses and enable efficiencies. Problem to Be Solved DDaT need a team to support the investment transformation through multidisciplinary teams, (working on a Call-Off Contract basis), to supplement existing capacity within the DDaT teams. DDaT is a growing function and requires support to help it deliver its work during the duration of the spending review (SR) period (2022-2025). The appointed supplier shall provide teams to deliver outcomes such as discoveries, alphas and betas. In some circumstances, the outcome may be to deliver an outcome and/or to support live services. Who Are the Users DIT is a global organisation with representatives in over 100 countries across the world. It operates across about 50 industrial sectors across every region in the UK. The Digital, Data and Technology directorate works to build new services, and iterate those already in existence, to promote international trade. These services provide advice, support and end-to-end services for businesses in the UK and overseas looking to trade or invest. DIT also provides a range of services to allow staff to support businesses and enable efficiencies. This contract will work with both staff and businesses in the UK and abroad. Early Market Engagement Not applicable. Work Already Done There is a current contract in place supporting the Investment Programme, providing teams to deliver outcomes such as discoveries, alphas and private betas, in a staggered approach, via individual SOWs. Existing Team The Buyer's DDaT team consists of a range of multi-disciplinary teams, working across all areas. It is a fast-growing team. The supplier will support DDaT during this phase to deliver departmental priorities either by supplementing existing product teams or by taking forward new Discoveries, Alphas and Betas independently, under the leadership of the programme team. Documenting the work and handing over is a critical part of the contract to ensure that DDaT owns and retains the knowledge created during the work. Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • Demonstrate experience working on user-centred, agile projects, following the Government Service Standard and Technology Code of Practice. (4%) • Demonstrate experience delivering as part of a wider product team, under the leadership of a programme team, as part of a wider portfolio. (3%) • Demonstrate experience in linking multiple loosely coupled systems, with different data models and quality, as part of a production service. (3%) • Demonstrate experience of hypothesis driven iterative and explorative approach to meeting user needs. (3%) • Demonstrate experience of developing digital services or staff-facing digital tools to support transnational business activity. (3%) Nice to Haves • Demonstrate experience working as a strategic supplier for another organisation to improve their use of data. (2%) • Demonstrate the ability to work with stakeholders to refine and validate their ideas (2%) Work Location Department for International Trade Old Admiralty Building Westminster London SW1A 2BL Working Arrangments A substantial portion of the work will be performed on-site at DIT’s premises in Westminster, London, unless otherwise agreed. Some work may need to be conducted outside of core UK working hours to accommodate users living outside the UK. Security Clearance All supplier staff will be required to have BPSS clearance before they start. The majority of roles will require SC clearance. It is the responsibility of the supplier to ensure clearance is received. Additional T&Cs The Call-Off contract terms and conditions cannot be changed. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Detail-how-much-resource-you-will-be-able-to-provide, to-meet-multiple-statement of-work-requests, inc. the-volume-of parallel SoW’s you could meet, within a short timeframe of SOW approval (c.2-4 weeks). Please demonstrate this by providing 2 client focused case studies. (8%) • Detail your approach to sourcing, on-boarding and retaining key resources within changing market conditions. (8%) • Explain-how-you-would meet DIT's need for appropriately skilled individuals, including your access to SC-cleared staff. What internal tests and processes will you undertake to ensure these specialists meet DIT requirements? (4%) • Explain how you will measure and monitor the quality and speed of delivery of your resources? (4%) • Please demonstrate your ability to take a policy concept from discovery to live, and how you achieved the desired client outcome, with reference to 2 client focused case studies. (6%) • Explain-how-you-will-ensure-DIT-staff-are-ready-to-take on operational control and support upon the completion of SoW. How will you minimise the off-boarding risk, so it does not impact DIT’s ability to deliver digital services. (5%) • Social Value • Demonstrate how you create and support employment and training opportunities, particularly for people in industries like digital, data and technology with known skills shortages. (5%) • Demonstrate your ability to influence staff, suppliers, customers and communities to support environmental protection and improvement. (5%) Cultural Fit Criteria • Demonstrate your ability to work with multiple teams on the same platform, sharing components, reviewing each other’s work and promoting a collaborative working environment. (3%) • Demonstrate your ability to deliver in an open, collaborative, agile way according to the principles outlined in the Government Service Design Manual. (3%) • Demonstrate your ability to join projects at the mid-point and how you have digested prior research and learnings to inform your approach. (3%) • Demonstrate your ability to ensure that relevant accessibility regulatory standards are met (e.g., Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 2.1). (3%) • Demonstrate how your collaborative design and planning approach will minimise duplication. (3%) Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method • Case study • Work history Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 65% Cultural fit 15% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. What are the main technology stacks in use across projects please? DIT predominantly use Django/React on top of Gov PaaS. 2. You mention an existing contract in place. Who is the incumbent please, and how long have they delivered the service to you? Informed Solutions Limited. The start date of the contract was 27/01/2022. 3. Can you please confirm the current technology stack? DIT predominantly use Django/React on top of Gov PaaS. 4. Can you confirm that resource is required 100% in Westminster? If not what proportion (percentage) of remote working is expected? Resource is not required 100% of the time in Westminster. However, a substantial portion of the work will be required to be performed in Westminster. DIT operate a hybrid way of working. Flexible working will be discussed at the commencement of each Statement of work. All work needs to be conducted from the UK. 5. If the supplier provided a Disco team, would they often move to the Alpha (if approved) too, or may you for example use an internal team for Alpha? It depends on the statement of work, as well as the capacity and capabilities within DIT at the time. 6. Re. the current contract that is in place. Will the incumbent supplier be continuing, or will their contract be ending? The current contract that is in place, will continue. 7. Approximately how much work is likely to be with overseas companies? It will vary depending on the SOW. Overseas companies are a key user group for DIT’s investment services. 8. Where work is for overseas companies, can the work be fully remote, or will some element of on-site presence be required? Some element of on-site presence will be required. All work will be required to be conducted in the UK. 9. Re. the majority SC clearance, can you confirm that DIT will sponsor SC and that supplier staff pending SC can still be allocated to suitable work not requiring access to sensitive data? All SC required roles can be sponsored at the supplier’s expense. Some roles will be suitable for BPSS but we cannot accept staff in SC roles, while their SC is pending. 10. Re. the Stage 2 evaluation, we can see you’ll be carrying the Stage 1 scores, but there is no weighting on the additional elements of Case Study and Presentation. Please can you clarify how those submissions will be used and scored? Case study and Work history are incorporated within the evaluation questions.Presentations are not part of the evaluation. 11. Are suppliers permitted to use multiple examples in their answers to questions? Yes. 12. Could you please provide a high-level timeline for the remainder of procurement? Anticipated datesNotification of stage 1 results - End Nov 2022Submission of stage 2 responses from those who progressed to Stage 2 - Mid December 2022Award notification -Mid Feb 2023Contract start date - End February 2023 13. Is there a current incumbent and who are they? The current supplier is Informed Solutions Limited. 14. What are the known resource requirements for supplementing existing product teams? It will vary depending on the SOW, which will outline the requirements. Roles likely to be needed are product manager, delivery manager, developer, user research, service design and will be required at some stage. 15. Is there a roadmap for the Discoveries, Alpha’s and Beta’s, and what is the timeframe for delivery? There is no roadmap at this stage. 16. With the parallel SoW’s, what is the anticipated size and scale of these pieces of work? The allocated budget for the contract is £5M for 2 years. Sow’s cannot be determined at this stage. The first SoW is given at point of contract award. 17. Is the intention is to add additional suppliers or if this is a renewal process, with view to land with one single supplier? At the point of contract award, there will be a period where there will be both the new supplier and the incumbent supplier in place. After this period, there will be just the one contract in place; Investment Digital Support Bench. 18. Could you please clarify what is meant, in practice, by: ‘Some work may need to be conducted outside of core UK working hours’? For instance, does this mean occasional out-of-hours calls; altered working patterns for weeks at a time; or something else? This refers to the occasional need to attending meetings or user research outside core UK working hours. 19. To provide appropriately skilled resources, can the authority explain the technology stacks and programming languages that are in use? DIT predominantly use Django/React on top of Gov PaaS. 20. Can the authority let us know who the current incumbent supplier is and which roles and team sizes have they typically provided to deliver outcomes for DIT? Informed Solutions Limited. 21. Is there a current incumbent providing this service? Informed Solutions Limited. 22. Can you pleasse indicate the types and numbers of roles required at start of contract? It is not possible to provide this level of detail at this time. 23. Who is the supplier providing services under the current contract?And would this opportunity replace this contract, or would it be in addition to the current contract? Informed Solutions Limited. At the point of contract award, there will be a period where there will be both the new supplier and the incumbent supplier in place. After this period, there will be just the one contract in place; Investment Digital Support Bench. 24. Do you have a preferred technology stack? And if so, what are the main technologies? DIT predominantly use Django/React on top of Gov PaaS. 25. What percentage of the requirement do you expect to require SC clearance? The majority of roles will require SC clearance, there is not a specific percentage at this time. 26. Will you sponsor candidates to obtain SC clearance? All SC required roles can be sponsored at the supplier’s expense. 27. What would you expect to be the typical lead time on a team request (and if it differs what would be the typical lead time on a team request requiring SC-clearance)? From point of SOW sign off, we would expect resource to be on-boarded within 2-4 weeks for SC-cleared roles. For BPSS roles we would expect on-boarding to be quicker. 28. What would be the expected size of SOW requests issued under the call-off, in terms of number of resources per request? This would depend on the SOW. However, it could be in the region of 3-7 resources per SOW. 29. What are the tech stacks which you would expect to be used by teams working under this call-off? DIT predominantly use Django/React on top of Gov PaaS. 30. How will this call-off interact with the existing Investment Programme? Would you expect the two contracts to form a single workstream, or are they addressing independent requirements? At the point of contract award, there will be a period where there will be both the new supplier and the incumbent supplier in place. During this period, we expect that each individual SOW addressing the requirements, to be independent of each other. After this period, there will be just the one contract in place; Investment Digital Support Bench.